


Seoul Hounding

by haekass



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: ALL THE GOOD STUFF, M/M, Murder Mystery, Supernatural Elements, if that's what floats your boat, if you squint right you can infer seongjoong plus any number of otp, implications of bindings and sleeping together, kind of based on Hounds of Baskerville, nothing really worse than you'd see in a movie though, or even seongjoong plus ot6 or even ot8, there's some kind of gory scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:14:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26979421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haekass/pseuds/haekass
Summary: “What are you wanting me to do with this?” Hongjoong finally bit out, lifting the folder that had had been slid across his desk.“Solve it,” was the instant reply.Hongjoong snorted. “That’s your job, remember?” he replied as he slid the folder back across the desk and leaning back into his chair. “I no longer have a function with the human world,” he continued, throwing the same words that had been hurled at him right back at their source.
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 16
Kudos: 23
Collections: All Hallows ATEEZ Exchange





	1. Hounded to Death

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ahegaojoong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahegaojoong/gifts).



> ahegaojoong, I hope you enjoy this little spin on the Hounds of Baskerville. While I couldn't make this historical, I tossed in as many supernatural elements as I could!

Hongjoong was sitting behind his desk – some beautiful old wooden thing that Jongho had scrounged up from somewhere – lightly tapping his fingers against it. Seonghwa was barely touching his shoulder while resting his hands on the back of Hongjoong’s chair. His kind of-dog was barely containing his-its growls as it gnawed on a kind of-bone down on the floor next to the desk. He didn’t really ask where it came from or what it was San gave to Eden for him-it to chew on, giving the demonic hound some appearance of being a normal dog.

As long as Eden didn’t bark, the illusions most people saw of a large dog stayed in place.

“What are you wanting me to do with this?” Hongjoong finally bit out, lifting the folder that had had been slid across his desk. He popped it open briefly before rolling his eyes at the graphic crime scene photo right on top. He held onto the file for a few seconds, already feeling the tingling-zapping sensation of San across his fingers.

Maybe he was a little – _a lot_ – bitter at the man seated across from him. His former superior, back in a somewhat previous life. The same man who had told him that he no longer had a job as a police officer while he was barely conscious and trying to swallow back his vomit after the respirator tube had been taken out. The same man who seemingly had no care that Hongjoong was _alive_ after being so close to death, only that Hongjoong had allowed a demon to merge with him.

No matter how many people tried to reason with him, it never seemed to make any impact on the man.

Hongjoong had forcefully wiped his memory of the man’s name – he didn’t care anymore, and he refused to waste any of his time ruminating whenever he heard a name.

“Solve it,” was the instant reply.

Hongjoong snorted. “That’s your job, remember?” he replied as he slid the folder back across the desk since he knew San was done, leaning back into his chair. “I no longer have a function with the _human world_ ,” he continued, throwing the same words that had been hurled at him right back at their source.

Seonghwa tapped his shoulder softly, reining in his temper. Reaching up, he tangled his fingers with Seonghwa’s, softly kissing the tattoo on the inside of Seonghwa’s wrist. Hongjoong noticed the man staring but didn’t care.

“This was _obviously_ one of… _you_.”

Hongjoong rolled his eyes. “Spare me. Our _kind_ has much better table manners than that. _Eden_ has better table manners than whatever that mess was,” he said, waving at Eden, who had slightly perked up at hearing his-its name, but went back to chewing on his-it’s kind of-bone after a second. “Start with known enemies.”

There was a short knock on the door before it opened.

“Oi, seriously?”

Hongjoong shared a relieved look with Seonghwa, both of them relaxing as Bang Chan pushed his way into the room. Yeosang had a lovely little bloom of tiny blue flowers across his hair as he pulled the door shut with a shy smile. Hongjoong guessed that Chan had been gushing about Yeosang’s beauty again before coming into his office.

“This is an active case for investigation,” the other man replied stiffly. “I’m pursuing the investigation.”

“You can stop investigating _my_ case. Your phobic ass can _leave_ and stay the hell out of it,” Chan snapped, a hint of an accent peeking out in his words. “Go on, get the fuck out of here _mate_.”

Seonghwa was loosening his posture, leaning more into Hongjoong’s side as they enjoyed the mini drama playing out in front of them.

“I’m going to report this _behavior_ –“

“Fucking go for it then and get the fuck out of my case,” Chan replied, flopping down in an empty chair.

“Channie hyung can stay, _you_ will be leaving within the next fifteen seconds either by yourself or with assistance,” Seonghwa finally said, his power crackling across Hongjoong’s skin.

San melted through the wall, his superfluous glasses slipping down his nose as he did so. “Hey hyung,” he started as he read the file he’d copied directly from Hongjoong’s hand. He looked up and paused. “Oh. You’re still here,” he continued, his voice flat.

“Ten seconds,” Seonghwa said firmly.

“Nine.”

“Eight.”

With a huff, the presence of their unwelcome guest finally removed himself by stalking towards the door. Hongjoong smiled as he felt both Seonghwa _and_ San give him a nudge as soon as the door was open, slamming him against the opposite wall before the door shut itself.

Chan shook his head, sighing. “Sorry about that, I didn’t know he was even in today. Hi Eden,” he cooed at the now-happily bouncing Eden, who huffed a soft bark that almost sounded like shattering glass. “One,” Chan told Eden. “It’s still early and I have a lot to do today.”

Eden reared up, licking a long stripe up Chan’s face before nuzzling his-its face into Chan’s lap, as they all waited for Chan to regain consciousness.

“I think Eden likes you more than anyone else,” Hongjoong said as soon as Chan’s eyes had reopened.

Chan smiled, some color coming back into his face. “He’s a good boy,” Chan said, ruffling Eden’s fur-skin. “I was going to come see you today anyways to see if you guys knew any leads about that,” he continued, waving a hand at the folder still on Hongjoong’s desk as he kept petting Eden.

Hongjoong and Seonghwa both shook their heads in sync.

“It was a sloppy attempt at trying to push blame,” San said, finally sitting down in the formerly occupied chair after he’d burned any trace left behind – which, of course, meant San burned the entire chair into ashes before recreating it. “The cuts all along here and here are too clean for teeth and were made after death to make it look like an attack,” he pointed out, tapping on the crime scene picture he handed to Chan.

Chan made an interested noise. “Can you pick up anything else?”

San shook his head. “Have to ask Jongho to see if he can get anything. All I can really feel from it is terror.”

Chan sighed. “That’s what I was thinking would happen. I haven’t seen someone literally scared to death in a while.”

Hongjoong reached forward, pulling the file back towards him. Flipping the folder open, he skimmed the details of a fifty-something chaebol heir found dead in a park area, official cause of death was a heart attack, but as Chan said, it was most likely brought about by terror. “What’s this about a family curse?” he asked, glancing through the notes.

Chan shrugged. “Don’t know, but everyone I talked to that knew the victim mentioned some kind of family curse coming down from way back. Apparently, every person in the family will die by fifty-five. A couple of people said something about some cursed dog, but I’m kind of discounting that since no one else has mentioned anything.”

Seonghwa hummed. “Self-fulfilling prophecies,” he commented, reading shamelessly over Hongjoong’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Chan agreed. “I’m up to my ass in suspects, but I can’t seem to pinpoint the person or people who would take advantage of that knowledge.”

“Would you like us to look into it?” Hongjoong offered.

Chan sighed, but nodded. “If you could? If you come at it from one end and I come at it from the other, maybe we’ll end up in the middle with the murderer. I’m not getting any information about what skeletons are in the family’s closet, so you might want to start there while I try to get something from the victim’s kids when I interview them remotely in an hour or two.”

Hongjoong raised his eyebrows. “How many kids?”

“Two, a daughter and a son. They’ve been living in the US for the past five years or so, apparently they had some kind of falling out with their father about five years ago and were completely cut off.”

“Wouldn’t that make them a suspect then?” San asked, wide-eyed.

Hongjoong still couldn’t figure out how a demonic lord could be so damned cute.

Chan shook his head. “I checked them out, both upstanding resident aliens in the US, neither have left the country since arriving, and what I could see of the will indicated that control of the business would fall to a new board of directors instead of either of the kids.”

“Anything about personal possessions or property?” Seonghwa asked in his usual soft voice.

Chan shook his head. “No clue.”

Hongjoong nodded. “All right, we’ll look into it.”

Chan smiled. “Thanks, I really appreciate it. I’ll let you guys get to work,” he said as he stood up with one last pat for Eden.

“Be careful out there, Channie hyung,” San called after him.

Chan waved his hand over his shoulder in acknowledgement.

“Where should we start?” San asked.

“Can you get any hints if there is an actual curse or it’s just some story that keeps getting passed around?”

San shrugged. “It doesn’t feel like a curse to me.”

Hongjoong glanced up at Seonghwa as he felt the pets to his hair.

“We’ll look into this one,” Seonghwa said. “All of you still have your own investigations to follow and work to do here.”

San nodded, pausing before moving. “Be careful, this entire thing stinks of greed and revenge.”

Hongjoong hummed. “That’s kind of what I thought. Could you ask Mingi to work his magic on computer systems to find what family secrets there are or if the kids are as really cut off as it seems when he wakes up?”

“Okay. Also, that arson case that Wooyoung and I were looking into _was_ completely accidental – poor kid came into his power early and since he was adopted, no one had any clue.”

Seonghwa wrapped his longer arms around Hongjoong’s shoulders. “Should we be expecting another foundling for dinner?”

San’s smile was quick and bright. “Shockingly, no! His parents were relieved that he’s just a pyro affinity mage and they’re looking into concrete buildings for their new house. I also suggested multiple fire extinguishers until he gets some control.”

“Probably a good piece of advice anyways,” Hongjoong replied, rolling his eyes. “We’ll have our phones on us, text or call when Jongho gets back and has some energy to spare to feel out if there’s anything more than the terror you felt or if Mingi digs up anything.”

San nodded. “Anything you want the rest of us to look into?”

“Just keep an eye on things,” Seonghwa answered before he paused. “Eden needs to get fed today, though.”

San smirked. “There might be a couple of good candidates that my sire is keeping for just such a purpose. I’ll take him down once we’ve gotten to a good place to pause in our cases.”

Eden whined a little, sounding like thousands of screams of fright.

Hongjoong got up from his chair and squat down in front of Eden, ruffling his-it’s ears, remembering how San had literally rolled along the floor scream-laughing when Hongjoong had named him-it. “I know buddy, but you need to get fed and we’ll be back later, probably after lunch, okay? Seonghwa will be with me, so don’t worry.”

Eden huffed, nuzzling his-its face into Hongjoong’s hands in an agreement. He knew that Eden was just worried about him. His assigned hellhound was a little overprotective, but he couldn’t fault Eden for that.

Seonghwa scratched at Eden’s ears, making Eden’s tail slowly swish back and forth in pleasure. “We’ll be fine,” he promised. “You make sure you eat well.”

Eden _boofed_ softly in agreement, one of the few actual dog-like sounds he-it could make. Hongjoong stood back up, giving Eden one last pet before grabbing his long black coat and wide-brimmed hat. He grabbed the file off his desk and waited for Seonghwa to finish tying the wide strip of black fabric with a large pin attached around his neck and tuck the ends in.

They didn’t really need to speak, a comfortable silence between them as they finally managed to leave the office and get into their car.

“Are the kids being really needy today or am I imagining things?” he finally asked, content to let Seonghwa drive.

Seonghwa snorted a laugh. “Most of our _kids_ are older than what we are.”

“Still our kids,” Hongjoong cheekily replied.

“Yes, they’re being very needy today. I’m surprised they didn’t fight more for coming along with us.”

Hongjoong shook his head fondly, amused at the antics of their six _kids_. “Well, San does have to feed Eden today, so that probably took half of that fight away immediately. I wonder what’s agitating them?”

Seonghwa shrugged, stopping the car at a red light. “Could be our unwelcome visitor this morning and they’re still working out that stress.”

Hongjoong made an agreeing noise. “Possibly,” he murmured as he opened up the file, grabbing one of the many pens that they kept pinned to the visor. He found an empty space on the paper and quickly jotted down San’s impressions so he could reference them later. Lifting the pen, he chewed on the top of it as he flipped pages.

Park Hui-hyun, fifty-two years old. Widowed fifteen years before, two children estranged. Generally well-regarded within the company, and while he stepped on some toes in business, no one really seemed to be an enemy.

He looked up as he felt the car stop, looking to Seonghwa curiously.

“I want to see if there’s anything that either of us can trace still left,” he explained, waving at the walking trail.

“Ah,” Hongjoong replied, unbuckling his seat belt and closing the file. He grabbed his hat, shoved his hand through his hair to push it back before he put the hat on, angling the brim enough to cover most of his face before stepping out of the car. Glancing around, he noted the presence of the elderly walkers up the hill and a few other creatures scattered here and there.

_Kim Hongjoong_ , a voice whispered through him, making his head jerk around. _I have heard of you. I wish to assist you._

“What is it?” Seonghwa asked quietly.

“Someone’s saying that they want to help us,” he murmured back, not wanting to scare the presence away. He focused in on a tree as he heard branches rustle, his eyes finally locating the source of the presence. His eyes finally met the magenta glow of a shadow demon. He tilted his head slightly, as if asking a question.

_You may approach._

Hongjoong jerked his head towards the trees to indicate to Seonghwa where to move towards. He stopped as he heard the hiss.

_You only, Kim Hongjoong._

“They say only me,” he told Seonghwa.

Seonghwa did not look happy about the restriction, and for a moment Hongjoong wondered if he’d have to fight Seonghwa yet again about his ability to take care of himself.

“I will let you talk to him alone, but I will be near. I have my own duties to perform,” Seonghwa said as he folded his arms, as if he expected the shadow demon to argue.

_That is acceptable_ , the shadow demon finally replied after a long minute of silence.

“Okay,” Hongjoong relayed. Hongjoong reached out, briefly tangling his fingers with Seonghwa’s before he stepped towards the trees and Seonghwa diverted slightly to walk to the scene of the death.

_They are your companion?_

Hongjoong nodded. _Companion_ was a good word choice when he was asked what Seonghwa was to him – every other term was needlessly complicated and only caused confusion. “Companion is acceptable,” he said quietly. “Did you witness the death?”

_I only stirred after the spirit had left. The fear lingered._

Hongjoong nodded, watching Seonghwa move gracefully around the area that had been marked out. “Yes, it looks like the victim was scared to death. Did you see anyone come along after the spirit had departed?”

_One human arrived shortly after the departure. I felt the anger and power surrounding that one. That one sliced at the mortal remains. They only feared discovery._

Hongjoong hummed. San had mentioned that the cuts were too clean for teeth, and the shadow demon was just confirming San’s observation. “Did anyone else come by after that one left?”

_Only some lower forms._

Hongjoong nodded, knowing that was the best the shadow demon would be able to identify.

_The anger/power one returned after some time but was also surrounded by other humans wrapped in sorrow._

Hongjoong chewed on his lip for a second, catching Seonghwa’s eyes for a second. Even in his altered shadow vision, Seonghwa stood out to him. “Is there anything else you can remember?”

_No, that is all._

Hongjoong nodded, bowing his head lightly. “I am thankful that you assisted us.”

_It is an honor._

He felt the shadow demon merge back into the shadows and he stepped away from the shade of the trees and lifted his hat off, squinting against the sunlight until his eyes could adjust back into his human vision range. Seonghwa was trailing his fingers across the wreath left at the scene by the victim’s employees, his eyes closed and mouth slightly parted.

Seonghwa was stunning most of the time, but there was something about watching him in a few situations that just rendered Hongjoong speechless. Watching him work was a pleasure in and of itself, the dedication and power sitting easily on Seonghwa’s features.

Almost as if he’d spoken, Seonghwa looked over at him, smiling slightly before turning back to the wreath. Hongjoong knew better than to interrupt, so he merely kept watch and appreciated the gorgeous early spring day.

“He was a little drunk,” Seonghwa said, bringing his attention back to the present. “Not stumbling around, but just enough to be susceptible to suggestion. That’s really all I can rewind – too many people have been in and out.”

Hongjoong nodded. “It’s something,” he assured.

“Did whoever it was that wanted your attention give you anything?” Seonghwa said as they slid back into the car.

Hongjoong shrugged. “The shadow demon only stirred after death, said it could feel the lingering fear. San was right, though – it said that it saw one human wrapped in anger and power arrive shortly after death and slice at the body. But it also relayed that the same person came back after some time with a lot of others that were sorrowful.”

Seonghwa hummed quietly. “That’s something I felt on the wreath. Sorrow, but also some intense… anger and triumph. I think the human the shadow demon saw was actually the one that scared the victim to death.”

He nodded. “That’s what I think as well. The shadow demon also indicated that some _lower forms_ were around after the killer had left, so I’m guessing some animals got to the body before it was discovered and that’s why it was so torn up.”

Seonghwa nodded, smoothly pulling back into traffic. “That doesn’t surprise me. I –“

The small chirp of Hongjoong’s phone interrupted them.

“Hello?”

“I can’t get anything on the victim, too much of a mess for me to be able to focus in on him, but there’s a haunting sort of presence,” Jongho immediately rattled off, his voice echoing a bit in the car from being on speaker.

“Do you think it’s from the killer?” Hongjoong asked, jotting down Jongho’s information in a blank area.

“Has to be.”

“Okay, thanks Jongho. That’s helpful actually – a shadow demon that exists near the crime scene said it witnessed one human come by after death, so if you’re feeling a haunting about that, it can help us focus in.”

“Can we have something spicy tonight hyung?” Jongho half-whined in an abrupt change of subject.

“I’ll make something for you,” Seonghwa replied. “I’m going to the shop tonight after we eat, but I’ll make sure you get something spicy.”

“Thanks hyung!” Jongho yelled over Wooyoung’s loud complaint before disconnecting the call.

Hongjoong rolled his eyes fondly. “Kids.”

Seonghwa snorted a soft laugh. “Kids,” he agreed with a smile before turning his attention back to the road. “Do you have any theories about what might have happened?” Seonghwa asked at a red light.

Hongjoong shrugged. “Murders are usually done by someone that the victim knows, usually driven by either emotions or greed, and often – not always, but often – are opportunistic chances. But since San said that it smelled of greed and revenge, it could have been planned.”

Seonghwa glanced at him. “But you don’t think so?”

Hongjoong huffed a laugh. “You know me too well,” he chided playfully. “It almost feels like it was somewhat planned, but an opportunity came up and the killer jumped on it. If it was completely planned, it’s doubtful the killer would have tried to make it look like an attack of something looking for a quick meal. Or at least I wouldn’t. There’s just too many things that could go wrong with that and way too many possibilities for evidence to be left behind since I’m assuming that the killer is wanting to get away with it.”

Seonghwa hummed. “That’s a good point. Also with the victim being drunk and more susceptible to suggestions, perhaps that haunting Jongho felt could have been a part of it?”

“Most likely. Whenever Mingi wants to wake up and check out the money trail of the kids, we can either focus on them or discount them as suspects just based on that since it does feel like greed and revenge to San and you sensed anger and triumph.”

“Wouldn’t that rule the kids out right there since they’re in the US and haven’t left since arriving?”

“Getting there, but there’s always a possibility of them hiring someone to take him out. They were probably not happy to be cut off. Greed and revenge.”

Seonghwa played with the fabric around his neck for a moment. “I think I would have to disagree with that. There’s something that is telling me it’s not the kids, but I can’t exactly figure out what it is.”

Hongjoong shrugged again. “We can set it aside until we have more information.”

Seonghwa nodded an agreement.

“I think the only thing else we need at this moment is probably just a list of associates and employees and see if anyone would actually benefit from killing him,” he continued, but paused as a thought occurred to him. “Actually… let’s wait until later.”

Seonghwa glanced at him curiously. “For what?”

“We’re not going to get much trying to retrace the victim’s steps into the scene of death since there’s been way too many people moving around and it’s been more than a few days since,” he pointed out. “We should let Mingi dive through the computer systems for the money trail, but also let’s send San to the estate lawyer’s office for a copy of the will.”

Seonghwa’s lips tilted up. “Do you think there’s something in it?”

Hongjoong hummed. “Probably. But it will probably give us a good lead as to who is going to benefit the most, and since we’re coming at it from a different angle than what Channie hyung is, something might stick out.”

“Good point. Lunch before we check in with our other cases?”

Hongjoong made an agreeing noise. “What or who is on the menu?” he asked with a cheeky smirk.

Seonghwa snorted a laugh. “You’re a full meal, Hongjoong,” he said, his voice dropping as his native accent slipped into his words. “I want to take my time with you,” he murmured, quickly squeezing Hongjoong’s thigh.

Hongjoong was a little shaky as he blew his breath out. “I think that’s the most forward that you’ve been,” he teased lightly, still not fully recovered from the words that he could barely believe had come from Seonghwa’s mouth.

“You’ve made your intentions clear,” Seonghwa said as they stopped at a light. He trailed his fingers down Hongjoong’s jawline before holding onto his chin, not letting Hongjoong shift his gaze. “I should make mine clear as well. You know what today is,” he murmured.

Hongjoong nodded slightly. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this particular side of Seonghwa. “One year ago yesterday,” he whispered.

“Yes,” Seonghwa agreed as he ran a thumb across Hongjoong’s lips, paying no attention to the moving traffic or the annoyed honking around them. “That was the final courtship gift I gave to you yesterday.”

Hongjoong swallowed. He really shouldn’t be nervous, and yet he was. “I know. I know what accepting it meant,” he said, slowly getting his bearings back.

Seonghwa’s smile was slow but devastating as he ran his thumb across Hongjoong’s lower lip again. “Good.” Seonghwa leaned over, lightly brushing their lips together. “You accepted my courtship, you know of my intentions, do you want to come to the store with me tonight?”

“Is that even a question?” He teased, easily turning the tables and ensnaring Seonghwa’s gaze. “I’ve been looking forward to this since you said you wanted to be my _companion_ a year ago. If I didn’t know your family would tear their way into this realm to have my remaining soul for it, I would have of agreed to the binding a year ago. Of course I want to go to the store with you tonight.”

Seonghwa gave him a fond glare, waving his hand and instantly silencing the blare of horns. “They would fall in love with you instantly and try to bring you back with them,” he countered.

“Too late, you already got me.”

Seonghwa squeezed his hand as he finally started moving the car again.

They were halfway through lunch when Hongjoong’s phone chirped again, only displaying the office’s number. He waited for Seonghwa to finish pulling up a light shield that would prevent others from eavesdropping before answering.

“Hello?”

“Hey hyung,” Yunho started off. Hongjoong thought it was cute how the nearly ancient dragon still called him _hyung_. “There’s no way that the kids are cut off, I can feel that there’s some money that went to them, and Mingi’s looking for the physical trace of that now. But he’s already found that it was their father that set accounts up for them, and I asked Jongho to try and focus on the kids instead of the victim.”

“Was he able to come up with anything?” Seonghwa asked.

“Just that the estrangement was protective, so I’m guessing that the victim actually set it up to make it look like the kids were disowned to try and protect them from whatever was happening.”

Hongjoong sighed. “Now that leads to the question of how the victim knew or thought he knew something was happening.”

“That’s something we can’t know with the information that we have right now,” Yunho answered.

“Has San gone down with Eden yet?” Seonghwa asked.

“Yeah, he left just a little while ago.”

“When he gets back, can you ask him to find the lawyer in the file he copied? We’d like to get a copy of the will to look through as it could have a possible answer,” Hongjoong said, reminding himself to write down Yunho and Mingi’s information when they were done. “If he can get it before Seonghwa and I leave for the store tonight, that would be great, but if he can’t, it can wait until tomorrow night.”

“Sure,” Yunho replied easily. “We’ll call if we get anything else and you aren’t back yet.”

“Thanks, Yunho,” he and Seonghwa chorused.

Hongjoong shoved a bit of his rice around before picking it up to eat. “It sounds like your hunch was right, it’s looking less likely to be the kids.”

Seonghwa hummed. “It’s nice to have confirmation, though.”


	2. Old Hound, New Tricks

He hated the irrational fear that boiled in his gut, the nagging anxiety that something was distinctly _off_. He could only really hear the pounding of his own heart, the ragged breaths he was forcing himself to take, and the slight howl of the fall wind as it was forced around tall buildings.

He froze as he heard a shuffle, a slight rustle off to his left.

He should leave, turn around, and call for backup before proceeding forward. But the pained hiss that sounded drew him further into the shadows. He didn’t announce his presence to give himself time to adjust his eyes to the nearly non-existent lighting and to work out what the current situation was. Stepping as quietly as he could, he finally focused on a shadow of movement.

A figure was curled up against the wall of a building. Internally rolling his eyes at his own foolishness, he stepped forward more confidently. Probably just a drunk that needed to be sent home or one of the unfortunates that didn’t have a home to go to. He’d send them on their way, giving them information to get them the help they needed, and return to his regular patrol.

“Do you need help?” he asked firmly, keeping his voice soft enough not to scare someone into fighting. It was always tricky, being firm enough to discourage trouble but kind enough to let people trust him as an authority.

The only answer he got was another hiss of air, like they were in pain.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, stepping closer. His eyes darted around, looking for immediate threats to his and this other person’s safety. “I can call an ambulance for you if you’re injured,” he cajoled, still looking around.

“ _No_ ,” a voice nearly screamed from a bit further down the alleyway, sounding hoarse and jagged. “ _Leave before_ –“ the voice caught, as if suddenly strangled.

The huddled figure was completely still as he moved towards the voice he’d heard, his heartbeat accelerating with the adrenaline rush.

He didn’t even notice that the figure against the wall had moved until he was suddenly flying through the air, landing painfully against a concrete pillar and having his breath knocked out of him. Dazed, he blinked, trying desperately to get air back into his lungs as he managed to get onto his hands and knees. Spots were dancing in front of his eyes and his head was swimming as he shakily drew in a gasp of air.

A hand tipped with sharp claws dug holes into the concrete as _something_ pulled itself out of the shadows and towards him. That _something_ slowly turned into a shadow demon, its glowing magenta eyes looking like twin laser pointers locked on him as it slowly and painfully clawed its way towards him.

He wanted to run, but his body wasn’t moving. _Paralyzed with fear_ never had a real meaning for him until that moment when he realized he couldn’t move. He swung his eyes over and off the shadow demon at the noise of movement only to scream out in pain as he was suddenly hanging in the air. It felt like his gut was on fire, pain flaring out from his very core and everything seemed to be moving in super slow motion as he looked down.

The burning in his guts suddenly had a reason as he saw that he was impaled on some type of… pointed claw thing?

Oh.

He was going to die there, wasn’t he?

His vision had more spots than when he had the wind knocked out of him, a slight graying on the edges of each spot. He saw the shadow demon still moving, still trying to make its way to him.

He heard screaming.

He was getting cold.

Everything was moving so _slowly_.

His entire abdomen felt like it was consumed in flames and he felt himself cough – or was it vomiting – something _wet_ and coppery spilling from his mouth.

Oh.

He was really going to die.

Blinking once, twice, he tried to focus his eyes, but couldn’t. All he could make out were vague shadows.

He was dropped back onto the ground, his head slamming painfully against the pavement, and more blood – it was blood, wasn’t it – spilled from his mouth as he tried to breathe.

_No, no, no_ , he heard softly, sounding far away.

He didn’t want to die.

Those glowing magenta pricks of light were staring down at him.

_I – I can s-s-s-save – you. I am d-d-destroy-ed. I ca-cannot con-tinue o-n. C-c-con-consent?_

Everything was becoming numb, cold, and he could feel his consciousness beginning to fade away. He couldn’t move, couldn’t get anything out of his throat except for more choked noises. There were more noises, more screams, but he didn’t have the energy to try and look.

_Yes_ , he screamed within his own mind as his eyes rolled back, his vision going dark.

Everything was dark.

Quiet.

Dead.

//

Hongjoong woke suddenly, his breath fast and shallow. He took a deep breath and tried to reassure himself and shivered when he felt Seonghwa’s arm wrap around his stomach to pull him backwards.

“Nightmare?” Seonghwa asked, his voice soft and deep.

“Kind of,” Hongjoong slurred, his panic subsiding the more awake he became.

“Want to talk about it?”

He shrugged. “Nothing really to talk about, it was just reliving that night. I actually haven’t done that in a while.”

Seonghwa hummed and stroked the large scar on Hongjoong’s abdomen with his long, graceful fingers before he nipped lightly at Hongjoong’s ear. “Do you need anything?”

He was relaxing more as Seonghwa held him close, and he slid a little away from Seonghwa to have enough room to roll onto his back. Several candles were still burning, providing enough light for him to see Seonghwa’s dark eyes with his normal vision. Reaching up, he rubbed his fingers across Seonghwa’s jawline. “Just you,” he murmured.

Seonghwa smiled, holding Hongjoong’s hand against his cheek before kissing his palm softly. “I’m here,” he assured.

Hongjoong used his free hand to trace Seonghwa’s tattoo, a stylized black sun with a crescent moon inside it to honor both sides of his heritage. It wasn’t Seonghwa’s only tattoo, but Hongjoong knew that the one he was touching was the most meaningful.

“I’m still surprised that you didn’t run away when you found out,” Seonghwa teased, smiling.

Hongjoong hummed. “I’d already suspected something of the kind just because you’re so good-looking, so finding out that you _are_ part Fae was just confirmation of that feeling.” His lips quirked. “Yeosang was more of a surprise than you.”

Seonghwa snorted a laugh. “His beauty is all natural.”

Hongjoong groaned at the nature joke, rolling his eyes. Jongho and Yeosang both used nature jokes and puns often, usually much to everyone’s consternation.

Seonghwa leaned forward and lightly kissed the tip of his nose. Hongjoong angled his head up the slightest bit, but it was more than enough for him to kiss Seonghwa. He hummed softly as he pulled Seonghwa back down towards him and relaxed into the soft bed.

Seonghwa finally broke the kiss a long moment later and rubbed a hand down Hongjoong’s stomach towards his hip. “Is this what you want?” he asked as Hongjoong tried to pull him back into a kiss.

Hongjoong nodded. “If you’re agreeable to help me concentrate on the present?” he lightly teased.

Seonghwa huffed as his lips stretched upwards. “I think I could be persuaded to assist you with that.”

“Good,” Hongjoong murmured before kissing Seonghwa again.

Shoving the nightmare back into his memory where it belonged and concentrating only on the present with Seonghwa was very comforting.


	3. Hair of the Hound

_One week later:_

He groaned a bit, slapping around for his phone.

“Hello?” he half-snarled. Seonghwa did not sound any happier about being woken up.

“Kim Hongjoong?” a soft voice asked, with an accent he couldn’t quite place.

“Who is this?”

“I’m Park Ahra, Park Hui-hyun’s daughter,” she identified. “Detective Bang gave me your phone number and said to call you if anything suspicious happened.”

He blinked as he sat up and lightly batted at Seonghwa’s hands that were trying to pull him back down. “Did something happen?”

“My brother and I were contacted by our father’s lawyer and told that we needed to be physically present to take possession of our father’s personal belongings.” She paused, her breath a little shaky. “Our father said that if anything were to happen to him that we shouldn’t return to Korea, but the will is saying that we should, and we’re a little suspicious about the demand to return.”

He yawned and ruffled his hair. “Okay, um, give me a couple of hours to get back into the office to check on some things.”

“Oh! What time is it there?”

“About three-thirty in the morning,” he said, chuckling a little.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I just checked my messages on my lunch break and…”

Hongjoong huffed a little. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll look into it and check back in with you.”

Ahra sighed, sounding relieved. “Thank you so much, this has been… an ordeal for my brother and I.”

“It’s understandable,” he assured. “We’ll be in touch soon.”

Seonghwa was still laying down but looking up at him curiously.

“Park Hui-hyun’s daughter, Park Ahra, was contacted by the estate lawyer and told that she and her brother need to be physically present in Korea to take possession of their father’s personal effects, but she and her brother were told to not return to Korea by their father,” he relayed. “I’m pretty sure I remember something from the will that San copied that all of his possessions weren’t supposed to go to the kids without a few steps in between, but I can’t remember it at three-thirty in the morning.”

Seonghwa chuckled. “Come back to sleep, we can check it in a few hours. Even if they took the first flight they could get, we’d still have several hours before they arrived,” he reasoned.

Hongjoong hummed and snuggled into Seonghwa’s side as he let his eyes close.

* * *

“Here it is,” Seonghwa said several hours later as he grabbed a highlighter and swiped it over the relevant section before holding the sheaf of papers out to Hongjoong. “All of his personal possessions were to be liquidated and placed in an account, but on this new one, it’s changed.”

  
“Let me see that,” Mingi said, grabbing the papers before Hongjoong could.

Hongjoong reached over and lightly flicked the back of Mingi’s neck, earning him a slightly apologetic look, but Mingi’s fingers never slowed down their frantic speed across his keyboard.

“The money would go to the kids,” Yunho said, not looking up from his book.

“He’s right,” Mingi said after a moment, sliding the papers over to Hongjoong. “It would go into the same account that they used to transfer a lot of funds over to the kids. They’d probably follow the same accounts to make sure it got to them, but that entire section’s been taken out with the demand to return.”

Hongjoong grabbed his phone and flipped through his contacts. Hitting Chan’s contact information, he tapped the speaker.

“You rang?” Chan answered halfway through the song.

“Next time tell me that you gave my number to someone. Park Ahra called me at _three-thirty_ this morning,” he grumbled.

“Oh, did I forget to tell you?”

Hongjoong huffed. Chan was notorious for forgetting tiny things if he got distracted, so he really couldn’t be too mad.

“Apparently. Park Ahra was contacted by the estate lawyer and told that she and her brother needed to return to Korea to take possession of their father’s things, but she said her father said to not return if anything happened to him,” Hongjoong said. “The original copy of the will that we’ve got says that all of his possessions were to be liquidated and put into an account, eventually winding up with the kids. We had San go get another copy and that section of the will’s been changed.”

He heard a series of scratching noises that was probably Chan quickly writing notes.

“Okay, I’m going to check out a couple of things on my end, and I’ll get back to you probably within an hour.”

“Talk to you then,” Hongjoong said as he disconnected the call.

Keeping himself busy, he only noticed that over three hours had passed when Yeosang and Wooyoung arrived with lunch for everyone. Unlocking his phone, he checked his call log to make sure he hadn’t zoned out and missed Chan’s call, which was unlikely since nearly everyone was home and would have heard his phone ringing.

Shooting Chan a quick text asking if he was all right, he had just set his phone down when it buzzed with a new message.

_Park Ahra is insisting that she and her brother come back to Korea!_ Chan had also added several angry faces to the message.

_I’ve spent the past hour trying to dissuade her, but damn she’s stubborn. She’s been trying to convince me to use her as bait to lure out the killer for that amount of time too._ Chan continued.

Hongjoong rolled his eyes. _Keep working on her, I think we’re going to try and track down the haunting after lunch and see if we can contain it._

“Jongho, do you have time and energy to spare for some work?” he asked.

“Mostly,” Jongho replied in between bites. “Why?”

“After lunch, let’s try and track that haunting you felt.”

“Why?” Wooyoung asked, his voice low. “You can’t interrogate a haunting.”

“I want to see if we can contain it,” Hongjoong replied. “If we can contain it, it might just make the killer slip up to where they can be caught.”

“Where would you want to contain it?” San asked curiously, lazily setting his food on fire.

“I think the park where the victim died would probably be best,” Yunho answered as Seonghwa admonished San to stop playing with his food. “Set the containment up into an object and toss it into a tree to keep anyone from wandering through it and getting possessed.”

Hongjoong nodded.

“I’ll go too, to help balance the life from being disturbed by it,” Yeosang said, licking his lips, but still missing some sauce on the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah let’s go on a trip!” Mingi said loudly.

Hongjoong shared a fondly exasperated look with Seonghwa. They weren’t getting away from the kids this time.

* * *

_Two days later:_

Park Ahra and Park Jiwon looked exhausted as they walked out of the airport. Red-eye flights were never fun from Hongjoong’s experience and he wasn’t entirely surprised at their appearance.

Jiwon glanced over and after a quick double take, he nudged his older sister to bring her attention around to Hongjoong as well.

“Kim Hongjoong?” Ahra asked, her voice pleasant and neutral.

He nodded. “That’s me. This is my companion, Park Seonghwa,” he introduced, noting the slightly questioning and suspicious glances.

“Inspector Chan mentioned you,” Ahra said, her shoulders relaxing and her voice dropping a little. “He said that you would have something for us?”

“Yes, I do. We should get moving first though.”

Seonghwa waited until they were on the road to Seoul from Incheon before he twisted in his seat. “Here, you will need to carry this on you at all times,” he said, his voice calm but firm as he held out two small boxes.

“What is it?” Hongjoong heard Ahra ask.

“It is a protection amulet that will allow you to see past and through suggestions and illusions,” Seonghwa explained. “Your father was slightly drunk before he died, and it was just enough to make him susceptible to suggestion, which we think was a major factor in the heart attack. We’ve noted a haunting presence that can make illusions stronger with fear.”

“So as long as we have this, we won’t be affected?”

“You can still experience fear, there is nothing that can render you fearless, but this will help you resist any strong suggestions or illusions like the kind that contributed to your father’s death.”

“Are you both sure you’re up for this?” Hongjoong asked, glancing in the rearview mirror. “We can reschedule if you need some time.”

Ahra shook her head. “We want this done. We don’t want to constantly be looking over our shoulders and wondering when something like this will happen to us.”

Hongjoong nodded.

“We should be arriving in Seoul just after full dark,” Seonghwa said. “The haunting is contained at the park, so it will know when you arrive. We’re going to be in the park with you while the police wait just outside of it. The haunting will also sense us, but there isn’t anything we can really do about that. Other members of our team are going to be with Chan hyung and the police to ensure that the killer and the haunting are contained.”

Hongjoong heard both of them sigh. “Thank you,” Jiwon said softly.

“You should rest if you can, but if you can’t, try to cultivate as calm of a mental state as you can, it will help boost the amulet’s power,” Seonghwa told them before turning back around.

Hongjoong turned the radio on shortly thereafter as the silence was starting to get to him, but he kept the volume low enough to barely be heard. He half-listened to Seonghwa humming along to what the radio was playing on the hour-long drive to Seoul, enchanted just enough by his voice to occupy his own busy mind and silence the fears that would render him helpless.

He was fine with the night again. What he was _not_ fine with was being alone in a park at night, but he knew it was necessary to trap the killer and the haunting at the same time. Both Jongho and Wooyoung were tuned into him and they would know if he was in trouble, and Seonghwa would be close, he told himself repeatedly.

It still didn’t stop his stomach from feeling like it twisted itself into a knot as he parked the car at the park. The interior light was on to keep his human vision range since he was driving, and he could just barely make out that the wreath had been removed at some point since their last visit to the crime scene.

“You can still back out,” he told both of his passengers.

Ahra shook her head, her mouth compressed into a thin line.

Hongjoong nodded, flipping the light off and letting his shadow vision take over. Ruffling his hair with his left hand as Seonghwa occupied his right hand, tangling their fingers together. He closed his eyes as Seonghwa let a tendril of power flicker over him in reassurance. Unlocking the doors, he opened it into the still-cool night.

There was no turning back now.

Wandering up the path to get a better vantage point, he frequently checked his surroundings for presences. The shadow demon that had provided him information wasn’t around, so he didn’t have to contend with more than two human-shapes and Seonghwa around the crime scene. A few animals were here and there, but nothing that would pose a threat.

He shivered as a gust of air blew around him and pulled his coat shut.

His head jerked a bit as he heard something around him shift, but after a moment of looking around without finding anything, he shook his head, curling his hand into a fist in the pocket of his coat and took a deep breath. It was spring, he told himself. It was spring, it wasn’t fall, and the mantis demon that had nearly killed him was dead.

Looking around again, he tracked an animal of some kind walking through the woods for a moment to make sure it wasn’t a threat, before looking back towards the crime scene.

The hair on the back of his neck rose.

There was no one there.

Blowing his breath out, he tried to force the fear and panic away. The path wound up one side of a hill and down another – Seonghwa was probably right around a turn where Hongjoong couldn’t see him, he told himself. Having shadow vision didn’t grant him the ability to look through opaque things like a giant hill. He was slightly concerned about Ahra and Jiwon as he couldn’t see them either, but they might have just followed Seonghwa down the path a little.

He huffed as he saw a human-shape come up the path from around a turn. It wasn’t Seonghwa, so it was probably either just Ahra or Jiwon. His mind was conjuring up things that weren’t there, he told himself. He knew that the haunting had some powers of illusions and suggestions, and he tried extremely hard to keep that in the forefront of his mind as he walked back down the hill to the crime scene.

Folding his hands in front of him, he stared at a slightly darker spot on the otherwise flat and pristine white-purple colored land. Tilting his head curiously, he wondered what, if anything, that signified. He was still occasionally taken aback by some aspect of merging with a shadow demon and obtaining shadow vision. Perhaps it was some lingering trace of fear? Perhaps blood that had been missed by whoever cleaned the crime scene? He knew it wasn’t the haunting, but he couldn’t quite figure out what he was seeing.

He jerked suddenly as there was a loud crunching noise in front of him, but he couldn’t see anything there. His heart felt like it was going to physically fling itself from his body with how hard it was pounding, and he righted his head to try and make his heartbeat less deafening in his ears. He looked around, suddenly reminded that he’d come back down because he’d seen either Ahra or Jiwon coming back up the path, but there wasn’t anything human shaped near in his field of view.

He felt a _push_ on his back just as he started to turn. Losing his balance, he tried to land as safely as he could, but he still winced in pain as his knees and hands took the brunt of his fall before he could get his shoulder down enough to roll onto his back.

Looking up, he felt his entire body freeze in terror.

The mantis demon looked down at him, two sharp claws hovering above him and ready to swing down.

He needed to get up, needed to run, needed to protect himself, needed to _get away_ , needed to _scream_ but he was silent and still, as if his body was no longer obeying the demands of his mind.

He couldn’t even wince at the high-pitched noise as a claw rose and then started to swoop downwards.

A loud, hellish howl echoed through the park, and as if he was suddenly freed from a vise, he rolled himself off to his left.

Instead of plenty of space as he had thought, he bumped solidly into human legs.

The illusion shattered, and Hongjoong could see that there was a human shape hovering above him, a knife raised.

He kicked at the legs to try and give himself some room to get up so he could at least fight back, but it wound up being unnecessary.

Eden looked like he-it was on fire in Hongjoong’s shadow vision, and the giant hellhound knocked into the human shape, the human and knife flung far away from Hongjoong.

A loud scream pierced through the night, and all Hongjoong could really do was watch as his hellhound started to feed.

“Hongjoong,” Seonghwa shouted, and Hongjoong looked around for Seonghwa, finally diverting his attention from the gruesome spectacle before him.

He breathed easily as he could see Seonghwa and many others converged towards him, and he finally felt the lingering fear disappear. Glancing over, Eden appeared to be done with his snack and was prancing towards him, still looking like he-it was on fire. Mentally shrugging, he chalked up Eden’s fiery appearance to Eden being protective and to his own shadow vision.

Feeling a multitude of hands starting to help him up, he got his feet back under himself and stood, still just a little shaky.

Seonghwa pulled him into a hug, nearly squeezing the air out of Hongjoong’s lungs. Letting his hands slide around Seonghwa’s waist, he relaxed into the hold of his companion, tension draining from his shoulders and aches suddenly making themselves known.

He felt Eden snuggle into him and Seonghwa, his-it’s large form a comforting – and very warm – weight. Dropping a hand, he scratched at Eden’s ear for a second. He could already hear the slightly panicked voices of their kids, but he took another selfish moment to relax, safe in Seonghwa’s arms with Eden snuggled up beside him.

“I’m fine,” he finally said, breaking the wall around his voice. “Let’s wrap this up and go home,” he added on before anyone could disagree that he was probably _not_ fine.

* * *

“As best as we can work out, Lee Il-chul was slightly haunted – I say slightly because it wasn’t possession or anything of that nature, he still had free will – and he’d entered into your father’s company for the purpose of killing him,” Chan said.

“But… why?” Ahra asked.

Chan shrugged.

“We can only guess,” Hongjoong said into the silence. “Revenge and greed are the most probable reasons, but we don’t know the reason behind that. There’s no paper trail that we’ve discovered and nothing he ever wrote down. And we’ve looked.”

“You’re sure that this isn’t going to keep happening to us?”

“Doubtful,” Chan answered. “Lee Il-chul had no immediate family, and only very distant cousins who didn’t even know him.”

“Whatever was haunting him died with him,” Seonghwa added firmly, his arm looped familiarly over Hongjoong’s shoulders. “Whatever revenge he thought he was entitled to; it’s finished and there is no one else to pick it up.”

Ahra nodded with a soft smile. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us. This has gone so far beyond your jobs, and my brother and I are incredibly grateful.”

Once she’d left with their well-wishes, Chan leaned back into his desk chair. “You all did great work on that,” he praised.

Hongjoong shrugged. “We just had to look at things from a different angle. We also got _very_ lucky that he mistook me for Park Jiwon from the back since it was so dark.”

“I’d rather not go through that fear again, though,” Seonghwa added softly.

Hongjoong smiled. “Me either.”

“You’re sure though? About whatever was haunting him is gone?” Chan asked, looking a bit serious.

Both Hongjoong and Seonghwa nodded. “Eden does not give up meals easily and didn’t even bother to wait for the guy to die before starting to feed on his soul and on the haunting.”

Chan snorted softly. “All right, I’ll close out the case and file it. Now go on before I put you to work on another case,” he teased.

“You’re coming to the gathering next week?” Seonghwa asked.

Chan nodded. “I’ll be there,” he promised.

“Good, see you then.”


End file.
